Metaphor View from a Literal Bridge
The view from a bridge offers opportunities for writers to explore the metaphysical underpinnings of their characters with a flourish of metaphorical imagery. There is something about bridges and the long stare down that just cries out for internal musings, even when the external goal is the search for another person:
“I step onto the bridge and peer down. This time I am not looking for Rawson; instead I feel like I am looking for myself. Staring into the rocky void is like peering into a reflector of my emotions.”
Simple Simile
Why get overly complicated when all that is needed is a metaphorical image that is quick and to the point? Sometimes for the point of economy, it is better to go with a comparison through simile that is immediately accessible to as large a percentage of the readership as possible:
“Inside it is dim and quiet as a tomb.”
Self-Description
One of the most common uses of metaphorical language in a story told in the first-person point-of-view is self-description. One can do a lot about a character in this way; if self-deprecatory it can help make the character more appealing to readers:
“Damone is tall but slight. And while I’m not very big, my brothers used to say that carting me around was like lifting a cow.”
Description of Others
Even more effective for first-person narratives is the use of metaphor to describe others. This usage tends to accomplish two things at once by providing an external portrait of the other person while at the same time offering insight into the narrator:
“A stunning girl with deep read hair appears out of the darkness. Anger pours from her blue eyes. Anger at me because I wasn’t smart enough.”
Darkness
Speaking of darkness, it is a word that has arguably been invested with more metaphorical meaning than any other single word since the turn of the twentieth century. That the increased prevalence of darkness as a metaphorical concept rather than a literal one seems to coincide with electricity’s ability to give man power over the dark may have something to do with this. Whatever the cause-and-effect going on here, once you start looking for the omnipresence of darkness as a metaphor, it seems to be everywhere. Often in a form which doesn’t even seem metaphorical at first:
“Darkness will be here soon, taking with my best chance to escape.”
